My first blog post (which criticized a decision Presidential candidate Obama made on his triumphant European tour last summer) occurred on this date a year ago; over the past year, I've published 269 posts (and a few others are in draft). What makes this prolificity more unusual is the fact that my posts tend to be longer than most commentaries I've seen posted elsewhere (the shortest post was a sarcastic jab at Obama's "change" campaign themes), and one of my signature miscellany posts usually includes 3 or more different topics.
I don't allow blog comments; this reflects an experience I had a few years back writing some posts in a Yahoo low carb diet group. I never really thought that dieting could be as contentious as religion or politics, but even modest criticisms, e.g., of conventional water drinking heuristics or choosing vegetables based strictly on carbohydrate gram counts versus nutritional diversity, resulted in ad hominem attacks. The final straw was some mother of a child with a certain medical condition whom swore by high-fat/low-carb diets as having worked for her child and all but accused me of trying to practice medicine without a license. (Obviously people with specific medical conditions, e.g., ulcers, lactose intolerance, food allergies, organ issues (e.g., liver), and diabetes, may have advanced dietary restrictions beyond a more general dietary approach like low-fat or low-carb, and should consult with their primary care physician and/or nutritionist.) I left the group, not because of differences of opinion, but the flaming, particularly by orthodox Atkins dieters, made a true dialogue impossible.
I don't know how many readers (if any) read my posts, at least on a regular basis. Oddly enough, the only post I know had some independent readers was a post I wrote in late April on a former marketing professor I had during my MBA studies at the University of Houston, George Zinkhan. (The University of Georgia professor made national news by killing his estranged wife and her alleged lover and subsequently committing suicide, his body discovered several days after the murders) I found myself quoted in an Australian webpage, and a reporter from the Athens, GA area (home to the University of Georgia) left his phone number in a voice mail asking to interview me. The reason I didn't discuss Dr. Zinkhan over and beyond what I wrote in that post is because I had not communicated with him since earning my doctorate in 1986; we didn't have any joint research projects. No doubt Dr. Zinkhan had had hundreds of more recent students (not to mention research collaborators) since I took his marketing class, including marketing degree majors with multiple classes or research projects. I only saw a few anecdotal pieces, e.g., a University of Nevada professor whom had worked with him on a research project involving Valentine's Day.
Why this conservative blog versus a large number of conventional conservation outlets? I offer a different, fresher perspective; I am not a lifelong conservative but migrated to my current point of view as a former pro-life liberal. I do not believe that the Republicans can continue to run the same old same old "Reagan formula" campaign; I have more of a reformist, problem solving approach to national issues, believe in comprehensive immigration reform and pro-business policies and want to scale back government interventionism in domestic and foreign affairs. Some may argue that many of my criticisms are consistent with other conservatives on a number of issues (e.g., my opposition to the Sotomayor confirmation, my revulsion to Obama's apology tours, and my condemnation of Obama's approaches to cap-and-trade and health care). I differ from other conservatives because I acknowledge legitimate concerns underlying liberal complaints and simply believe that there are better, more market-oriented solutions to achieve these goals versus heavy-handed, paternalistic, ineffective, wasteful government "solutions"; like Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan, I have a fundamentally positive outlook and want a more inclusive, diverse-thinking conservative movement instead of the goals of an ultra-orthodox, judgmental media conservative inquisitors, like Ann Coulter, whom regard independent conservatives, such as Colin Powell and myself, as heretics.
Let me close with an appropriate song from the greatest musical artists of all time...
Celebrating the Blogiversary with My Favorite Musical Act
